Jerry Bassin,was the founder of Bassin Distributors, a U.S. record one-stop that eventually became Alliance Entertainment Corporation, the second largest music wholesaler in the United States. He began his career in the music business during the ’60s when he and a partnered opened a Brooklyn based retail outlet called Collegiate Sports & Music. He sold the store in 1973 and moved to Florida where he again, partnered up on a record store. But this time, Bassin started a wholesale operation within the company and called it, Interstate Trading. His partner soon bought him out and Bassin eventually opened another distributor which would eventually be called Bassin Distributors. Unlike other 1980’s independent distributors who mostly catered to record stores within their geographical region, Bassin became one of the first one-stops to operate nationally. His was also one of the first U.S. based one-stops to sell music internationally. In 1991, he and his partner sold the company to Alliance where Bassin stayed on as an executive for the better part of the decade, and as a consultant after that. Jerry Bassin was 76 when he died suddenly while in the Bahamas on November 16, 2008.
Ernest Tubb was one of country music’s greatest pioneers. With a career that spanned almost 50 years, Tubb ushered in what would be called “honky tonk” with his 1941 hit, “Walking The Floor Over You.” The son of a sharecropper, Tubb spent much of his youth working the fields of Texas, learning to sing and play the guitar during his off hours. His early music jobs consisted of singing at radio stations in San Antonio and San Angelo, Texas. In the mid ’30s, he struck up a friendship with the widow of Jimmie Rodgers, one of his all-time idols. It was she that helped him get his first deal with RCA Records. Tubb was never accused of having the best singing voice, but he certainly put together some of the greatest bands country music has ever known. 1n 1947, Tubb opened Ernest Tubb Record Shop in downtown Nashville. That store, along with locations in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Fort Worth, Texas are still thriving businesses, catering mostly to the classic country fan. Ernest Tubb died of empysema at the age of 70.
Euronymous (Born Oystein Aarseth)
March 22, 1968 – August 10, 1993
Oystein Aarseth, known to fans as Euronymous, was the founding guitarist of Norwegian black metal band, Mayhem. Formed in 1983, the band went on to become one of the most influential Norwegian bands of the scene. The band was as controversial as it was popular, due in part, to their violent stage show along with the suicide of lead singer, Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin), and murder of Aarseth. It was rumored that Aarseth ate part of Ohlin’s brain upon discovering his lifeless body. He publicly denied that claim. During his career, Aarseth also opened his own record shop and mail order business as well ran his own label, Deathlike Silence Productions. On August 10, 1993, Oystein Aarseth died as a result of numerous stab wounds sustained during a violent confrontation with fellow musician Varg Vikernes. Although he claimed the 23 knife wounds was self-defense, Vikernes was convicted of murder and sent to prison. He was released on parole in May of 2009.
Ann Spencer Gates was a Boston area disc jockey and later, publicist for Matador Records. Moving from Buffalo to Boston for college in the late ’70s, Gates soon had a radio program on MIT’s hip WMBR radio station. She, along with friend Lisa “Sheena” Bucholz hosted “The Mystery Girls” where they were one of the first to champion such local bands as Lemonheads and Mission Of Burma. By the late ’80s, Gates was living in New York City where she went to work for Matador Records as a publicist, working with such acts as Liz Phair, Pavement, Cat Power and Bettie Serveert. Ann Spencer Gates died on July 6, 2008 after a long struggle with breast cancer.
Clement “Coxsone” Dodd
January 26, 1932 – May 5, 2004
Coxsone Dodd was the pioneering Jamaican DJ and producer that many credit for early development of reggae and ska. Dodd’s career in music began at an early age when he would spin records at this parents’ store. He grew that into a popular sound system business, employing the likes of Lee “Scratch” Perry an U-Roy to run the sound systems. Having spent some time in the United States, Dodd featured early American R&B records, first introducing many Jamaicans to the music. Realizing that he couldn’t keep up with the local demand for new music with imports from the States, Dodd decided to start his own record label and shortly thereafter, open his Studio One recording studio. Over the next two decades, Dodd would produce and release some of reggae’s greatest songs and albums from such artists as Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Sugar Minott, Ras Michael and Horace Andy. To many, he was to reggae what Berry Gordy was to R&B, and his “studio one sound” would become the blueprint for ska and rocksteady. Dodd died of a heart attack at the age of 74.
Jim Price was a much respected twenty-year veteran of the music retail industry. He started his career as a store director for the legendary Peaches chain in Ft Lauderdale, FL. Most recently he was the Director of Purchasing for the Alliance Entertainment Corporation, or AEC where he was considered a mentor to his co-worers.
Jim Bonk was a marine who had just returned from Viet Nam when he went to work for the Camelot Records chain in 1968. Bonk rose through the ranks to President of the retailer by helping build it into a powerhouse chain of 364 stores. To his coworkers Bonk was an inspiration, and to his colleagues throughout the industry, he epitomized integrity. Jim Bonk passed away after a long battle with cancer on April 5, 2008.
Sam Weiss, a veteran wholesaler and record label executive, passed away from natural causes at Boca Raton Community Hospital in Florida today (March 19, 2008). He was 81. Weiss is best known for co-founding the legendary Old Town record label in 1953 with older brother Hy, who was the father of Zomba Music Group chairman Barry Weiss. Hy’s death on March 20, 2007, preceded Sam’s by almost a year to the day. The Old Town label helped launch the careers of numerous R&B and doo-wop acts, including the Earls, the Capris and Arthur Prysock. In the late 1950’s,Sam Weiss started Win One-Stop, which he built into a powerhouse East Coast wholesaler with help from his younger brother George. In 1977 Sam also jumped back into the label business, forming Sam Records with his future son-in-law, Daniel Glass. Sam Records enjoyed its biggest success with John Davis & The Monster Orchestra and with the Gary’s Gang song, “Keep On Dancing.” In the early 80’s, Sam again was a pioneer in becoming the first music one-stop to jump into the video industry, and became a leading East Coast independent distributor selling to such accounts as Rite Aid and Pathmark. While Win One-Stop may have shut down in 1992, the music business still has many executives who owe their first industry job to that company. After the shuttering of Win, Sam joined with his son Michael Weiss to create yet another independent label, Nervous Records. – Ed Christman (Billboard)
Oystein Aarseth, known to fans as Euronymous, was the founding guitarist of Norwegian black metal band, Mayhem. Formed in 1983, the band went on to become one of the most influential Norwegian bands of the scene. The band was as controversial as it was popular, due in part, to their violent stage show along with the suicide of lead singer, Dead (
Jim Price was a much respected twenty-year veteran of the music retail industry. He started his career as a store director for the legendary Peaches chain in Ft Lauderdale, FL. Most recently he was the Director of Purchasing for the Alliance Entertainment Corporation, or AEC where he was considered a mentor to his co-worers.